High-strength tower in steel for wind turbines (Histwin) Final report

• Innovative solutions for assembling joints of a tubular tower for wind turbines were studied and the project provides a background for design. This solution is simpler to produce and 80 % less expensive than traditional flange connection. Our feasibility study at the production plant indicates that the towers would be easy to assemble in situ. In addition to the direct cost savings due to the technical simplicity of the solution, the higher fatigue endurance than that of the flange connection is experimentally established. Further reduction of costs due to optimal use of higher-strength steel grades, especially in the bottom segments of the tower where the stiffening of the door opening is costly, is shown in the report. The total reduction of the costs for tower is estimated at about 10–15 % compared to the traditional tower. The project objectives are achieved in following sequences. • Experimental activities of the friction connection: small-scale tests to establish resistance of the friction connection for a variety of faying surfaces and bolt types, accompanying testing to ensure realistic input data for FEA, long-term testing to establish loss of pretension forces during the lifetime and fatigue tests.• Bending test of the friction and flange connection in a down-scaled tower. • Feasibility of production of the tower segments in the laboratory and at the production plant. • Monitoring of the existing tower to access a stress variation during the operation. • FEA analysis of experimental results and a complete case study of the monitored tower. Numerical examples for design of the friction connection are given for the sake of illustration and to encourage use of the new connection

Ämnesord

Engineering and Technology  (hsv)

Civil Engineering  (hsv)

Building Technologies  (hsv)

Teknik och teknologier  (hsv)

Samhällsbyggnadsteknik  (hsv)

Husbyggnad  (hsv)

Steel Structures  (ltu)

Stålbyggnad  (ltu)